


Hear My Heartbeat

by Chash



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-17 00:17:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13647429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: Clarke tends to think of the Olympics as one of those things she watches alone, because most of her friends just don't care, which is legit. When it turns out Bellamy's a fan too, it's a little confusing, but she can admit, it's nice to have company. She's been wanting to get to know him better.





	Hear My Heartbeat

If someone had asked Clarke to make a list of which of her friends were going to care about the Olympics, Bellamy would have been very close to the bottom of it. He's one of those people who's so uninterested in sports it borders on parody. From what she can tell, he works out because he knows it's good for him, but he never played any team sports, and if anyone ever so much as mentions college athletics, he's off on a (very legitimate rant) about the effect on academics, the salary of coaches, and post-concussive disorder. She has other friends who aren't particularly athletic, but she associates Bellamy with actual open hostility.

Clarke, on the other hand, loves the Olympics. She played softball in high school and did some club sports in college, but she's not really a sports fan any other time of year. She'll keep track of baseball when the Cubs are playing, but she doesn't care enough to watch unless they're in the World Series or something. Her stepdad likes basketball, and she watches that with him when she's home, but it's not enough that she really considers herself a general fan. Just an Olympics one.

Part of it is tradition--she used to watch with her dad, when he was alive--but even without that, she thinks she'd be excited about them. They're still competitive, of course, but there's something that feels purer about the Olympics. It might not be _true_ , but it feels like the best of humanity to Clarke.

But she wouldn't wouldn't have expected Bellamy to feel the same way. She's honestly not expecting _any_ of her friends to, since they're making other plans. Game nights are cool, but the first day of the Olympics is basically the biggest game night _ever_. She knows where her priorities lie.

"I'm out," she says. "Olympics."

"Oh right," says Raven. "I forgot you're super into those."

"I'm regular into them," she protests. "Plenty of people like the Olympics."

"Not like you like the Olympics."

"You're watching the Olympics?" Bellamy asks.

"Yes, and before you tell me exactly how many horrible injuries all of the athletes have--"

"I was actually going to ask if I could come watch with you. I don't have cable."

"You like the Olympics?" Raven asks, frowning.

Clarke's as surprised as she is, but she's not going to admit it. "I told you, everyone likes the Olympics. They’re incredibly popular. It's a worldwide phenomenon. You can come over if you want," she adds, to Bellamy. "I don't have big plans or anything, but I have a couch."

"Cool, thanks."

It doesn't strike her as both very odd and kind of awkward until the night of, when he texts to ask for her address because he's never actually been to her place before. In a way, it's not surprising--the two of them met through Raven's girlfriend, Gina, who is both Bellamy's ex-girlfriend and a bartender at their favorite bar, and that's where they do most of their socializing. They've been something resembling friends for a year, but this is going to be their first time hanging out one-on-one.

Then again, it was his idea, so he must not feel weird about it. And if he doesn't feel weird, she isn't going to either.

She does buy some extra wine, and some chips and guacamole and salsa, and has to stop herself from getting anything else, but that would probably be happening regardless. Entertaining stresses her out.

Bellamy shows up right on time, with a six-pack of her favorite cider and his own bag of chips. He must have gone home after work, because he's dressed casually, jeans and a t-shirt, and he even took his contacts out and switched them for glasses.

His smile is a little crooked, so she's guessing he figured out this would be weird at roughly the same time she did. 

"Hey," she says.

"Hi. Thanks for letting me come over. I brought, uh--" He holds up his supplies, and she smiles.

"Thanks. I figured we'd order a pizza or something? For dinner."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Should I take my shoes off?"

"Yeah, you can just put them in the corner. I can take your coat."

Clarke doesn't actually entertain much in general, but she has a comfortable couch and a large TV, which is definitely all she needs for an Olympics party. And it's not like Bellamy is going to have high expectations. He's been around when Raven makes fun of her for having missed every one of the rich-person party genes. 

"What do you want to drink? There's the cider, wine, some beer, maybe some rum--"

He laughs. "Of course you'd have a fully stocked bar. What kind of beer?"

"Some IPA Monty promised I'd like."

"And you don't?"

"He's convinced I just haven't found the right IPA, I'm convinced I don't like IPAs. So far, I'm winning this argument."

He snorts. "So, I should drink that so you don't have to."

"You're the guest, you can drink whatever you want."

"I like IPAs, I don't mind."

"Appreciated. Have a seat on the couch, I'll get the stuff."

Despite her instructions, when she gets back to the living room with the drinks and snacks, he's inspecting her bookshelves with interest, leaning in close to read the small print on the spines.

"Having fun?"

He jumps, flushing a little. "Sorry, just curious. I like books."

"You don't say. I'm going to get started on drinking, but if you want to snoop instead--"

"I don't think looking at the stuff you have on display in your living room counts as snooping," he points out, but he leaves the books to sit on the other end of the couch anyway. "If you don't want people seeing those, you should redecorate."

"Thanks for the tip." She smiles. "See anything you liked?"

"I was trying to figure out what the other language was. Chinese or Japanese, but I don't know how to tell which."

"Chinese. My mom thought if I took it in college it would make me more employable."

"Really?"

"Globalization is the future, I guess. It does look good on my resume. And to people checking out my bookshelves."

He takes a sip of his beer to hide his smile. "Yeah, I'm very impressed."

"So, you're a big Olympics fan?" she asks, getting the TV turned on and navigating to the right feed. It's not the most awkward conversation ever, but she feels like there has to be something better for them to talk about.

"I don't know about _big_ ," he says. "But a fan, yeah."

"Winter or summer?"

"I have to pick?"

"I thought you might have a preference."

"Winter, I guess."

"Cool. I'm more into summer, I really like swimming. What are your favorite events?"

"I like pretty much everything."

"Even curling?"

"Am I not supposed to like curling?"

"No, just no one ever wants to watch it with me. I thought I was going to have to wait until you left."

"I like curling," he says, firm. "Honestly, it's way more interesting than I expected. When I first heard about it I thought it sounded stupid, but once I watched a couple matches--"

"It's actually really addictive, right?"

"Yeah, I was way more invested than I expected."

"Okay, awesome. So we're going to start with the curling and go from there. I don't know how late you want to stay, but the other one I like that's already started is skating."

"Probably not too late. Whatever order you want to watch is fine with me, I'm not picky."

"Cool." She settles more comfortably onto the couch. "I figured we'd get the pizza in like half an hour?"

"Sounds good. I'll cover it."

"You don't have to."

"You're letting me come over and use your TV. The least I can do is pay for dinner."

"Split it," she says, and he huffs.

"Fine, split it. Get the curling going."

It's not a total surprise that the evening is enjoyable. Bellamy's one of her favorite people to hang out with, and she's always privately regretted that they don't do it more often. He's somewhat shockingly into curling, more knowledgeable about it than she is, familiar with a lot of the technical terminology and history, and it's cute how worked up he gets about it.

They polish off the pizza and a six pack between them, and it's one of the better evenings she's had in recent memory.

"You don't live too far away, right?" she asks, as he pulls on his coat.

"I promise I'm going to make it home safe," he says, tone fond. "I'm walking."

"I was actually going to say I'll be watching all weekend, so if you want to come by again, just text me and let me know. You're always welcome."

"Oh," he says, surprised, but clearly pleased. "Yeah. I've got a ton of grading to do this weekend, I could use some good background noise. So if you're just being polite, now's the time to tell me."

"You're totally welcome," she assures him. "It's more fun with company, honestly."

"Then I'll probably text tomorrow after lunch? I've got some errands to do."

"Sure. Like I said, just let me know. I take the Olympics very seriously, I'm going to be watching either way."

"Clearly. Thanks again for letting me crash."

"Any time. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," he says, smile soft. "See you then."

*

She doesn't stop feeling weird about it after that, but she certainly feels less weird. The Olympics are, after all, a popular sporting event worldwide, and she's watched them with all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons. There was a guy in college she only saw during the Winter Olympics, but they had an intense and dedicated friendship during that time. And she and Bellamy are already friends, so it's not like this is even a new relationship. She's never spent this much time with him before, but it turns out they're pretty good at it. It's her most enjoyable Olympics in years.

And then, Raven and Gina find out, and it's weird again.

It's the first Thursday since the games began, and she's only at the bar to begin with because Bellamy's got a school thing going on. He assured her she could just watch without him, but it doesn't feel the same, if she's honest. Now that she's had a taste of Olympics with Bellamy, it's going to be hard going back to Olympics alone.

"Wow, I almost forgot what you looked like," Monty teases, when she sits down next to him.

"It's been a week," she says. "We've gone way longer than a week without hanging out before."

"We always lose track of her during the Olympics," Raven says. "Honestly, one year I thought she died."

"You could have just texted me."

"It was funnier assuming you died."

"I'm not even being anti-social this year," she says. "Bellamy's been coming over."

Raven frowns. "Wait, he's still doing that?"

"Why wouldn't he be?"

"I don't know. How much Olympics is a normal amount to watch with someone?"

"It's still going, why would he stop? He's really into it."

Gina holds up her hand. "Wait, sorry, are you saying _Bellamy_ is really into the Olympics? Bellamy Blake?"

"Babe, we don't know any other Bellamys," says Raven. "No one knows any other Bellamys."

"Yeah, just--I can't believe he cares about the Olympics," she says, with a frown.

"He's been coming over to watch every day. He definitely cares. Honestly, I think he might care more than I do."

" _Bellamy_?" Gina says again. "He didn't even know the Rio Olympics were happening. He came to the bar one night and asked why we were watching horses."

"Maybe it's just his thing for Clarke," Monty says, bright, and Clarke chokes on her cocktail.

"His what?"

"He has a crush on you, right?" Everyone's staring at him, and he ducks his head. "Was I not supposed to say that? Do we not all think Bellamy's into her? I thought it was kind of assumed."

"Dude, were you holding out on us?" Raven asks. "Did Miller say something?"

This does, Clarke has to admit, seem like the most likely explanation, if Monty really does think Bellamy has a thing for her. Which--it wouldn't be _bad_ , if he did. Clarke wouldn't mind.

"I just thought it was obvious! He always sits next to her, when she's not around he asks where she is, apparently they've been watching the Olympics together and he's never cared about the Olympics before--"

"Huh," says Raven. "That would make a lot of sense."

"Maybe he just doesn't like the summer Olympics," Clarke says, without much conviction. She had asked him, after all, and he’d been—

That’s the big thing, really. He’d been pretty noncommittal about everything. Clarke considers herself to be a general Olympic enthusiast, but she still has preferences, favorite events, even some favorite athletes. She can’t help remembering how evasive he was, how many times he didn’t really answer questions so much as say he liked everything.

“He did know a lot about the sports,” she admits. “Like, suspiciously a lot.”

“What’s a suspicious amount to know about sports?” Raven asks.

“Like--stuff you might know if you recently read the Wikipedia article?” 

“That sounds more like him,” says Gina. “He did ask if you liked guys after you and Niylah broke up, I figured he just wanted to make sure he used the right labels.”

“He could still just like the Olympics,” Clarke says, mostly to remind herself. There are still non-romantic explanations for this. She shouldn't get too invested in this narrative.

“He could,” Raven says. “You should ask him."

“Ask him what, exactly? _Are you pretending to like the Olympics to spend time with me_?”

“Or some trivia he couldn’t find on Wikipedia. Up to you. I don't really know enough about it to come up with questions.”

Clarke thinks it over for a long moment before turning her attention back to Gina behind the bar. She's the resident expert. “You think that’s what’s happening? Really?”

She shrugs. “I can’t come up with a better explanation.”

“And I’m always right,” says Monty. "Even if Nate didn't give me any insider insight."

Clarke lets herself smile, just a little. “Then yeah. I’ll see what I can do.”

*

The problem with trying to come up with some kind of test of Bellamy's Olympics investment is that there isn't much trivia she can think of that would count as conclusive proof he's faking. The things she tends to remember are because they catch her interest, and if those same things didn't catch someone else's interest, she can't really blame them. And it's not like she really _cares_ , if he's not actually an Olympics fan. The only thing she wants to find out is if he's doing it to spend more time with her, because if he is, it's a real waste that they're not at least cuddling during the games. And making out after. He could be _spending the night_.

If Monty's wrong, she'll be pretty upset, if she's honest. Now that she's thought about it, Bellamy being interested in her would be _awesome_. She's absolutely interested in him, a lot more than she realized. 

And of course, even if he's not lying about his interest in the Olympics to spend time with her, he could still be interested. There are absolutely other ways to watch the games. He doesn't have to keep coming over here.

Given what Gina said about his previous levels of investment in the games, though, it seems pretty unlikely that there isn't _something_ more going on.

So when he shows up on Friday with his usual six-pack and snacks, Clarke actually _does_ have a plan.

"Hey," she says. "How was work?"

"It was the Friday before a long weekend, getting them to do any work was a nightmare. How about you?"

"I don't work with teenagers, so awesome."

He snorts. "Yeah, brag about it. There were leftovers from the thing last night, so I bought more pizza, assuming you're not picky about toppings."

"Please tell me they're real leftovers and you're not just trying to get out of going fifty-fifty on takeout."

"Cross my heart," he says, with a smile. "I always over-order for this stuff."

"Then thanks," she says. "I've got some new microbrewery lager Monty recommended in the fridge for you, want to try?"

"Sounds potentially terrifying, I'm in."

They've got the setup down to an art, at this point: Clarke sits on the left side of the couch and deals with the remote and finding the game while Bellamy finds glasses for their drinks and bowls for their snacks. Once they've got that done, Clarke takes a sip of her cider and lets herself ask, "What did you do for Rio?"

He glances at her, clearly confused. "Hm?"

"How did you watch the Rio Olympics? Did you have cable?"

"Oh, uh, no. I just kept up online."

"Not at the bar? That was when you were dating Gina, right? I assume they were playing it non-stop."

"They're playing it now and you're still watching at home," he says. His tone is light, but his posture is getting a little tense.

"I'm not dating a bartender. Also, she said you didn't even know the Rio Olympics were happening when I saw her yesterday."

There's a pause, and then he says, "Shit."

"Is this your first actual Olympics?" she asks, feeling more delighted by the second.

"I've seen some of the others," he admits. "It's hard to make it to thirty without ever having seen the Olympics."

"But you're not a fan."

"I've been having fun watching these. I really like curling."

"Bellamy."

"Yeah, I'm not really, uh--that invested."

"You've been here almost every day for a week. You're clearly invested in _something_."

He tries to glare, but it doesn't last long, and he deflates. "Sorry."

"You definitely could have just told me you wanted to watch. I wouldn't have minded that you didn't have much background. You definitely didn't have to research the entire history of every sport."

"I just did it for the sports that we were going to watch that day. I didn't want to make it weird."

"You just wanted to hang out with me."

"Yeah," he admits. "I've been trying to figure out an excuse for months."

" _Hey, Clarke, do you want to get dinner sometime_ is an awesome pickup line. Just so you know."

"Yeah?" He shifts a little. "Should I actually use it?"

He looks kind of adorably nervous, and Clarke puts her drink aside so she can move across the couch to him. "I think we've probably had enough dinners by now," she says, and kisses him.

*

"Wait," says Miller. "You're telling me Bellamy actually sold being interested in sports for a _week_? Bellamy?"

Clarke will admit that a week into dating Bellamy, her favorite thing--aside from her awesome new boyfriend, obviously--is the way every one of Bellamy's friends seems to think he can't even feign interest in sports for more than an hour, at the most.

Granted, Clarke's impressed too. But it's still hilarious.

"Wikipedia," he grumbles. "Seriously. It's not hard to figure out how sports work. You just need to do a little research. And my students helped."

"You asked your students for dating advice?"

All the blood drains from Bellamy's face, as if he's never heard anything more horrifying. From what he's said about how much he likes talking to his kids about himself, it probably does rank pretty high on his nightmare scale. Clarke just presses her lips to his shoulder with a smile.

"All I did was ask them if they were watching the Olympics and talk about their favorite events, jesus. I didn't tell them why I wanted to know."

"Because it was kinda creepy?" Gina supplies, sliding him a beer with a bright smile.

He raises it and takes a sip. "Also because they're my students and I never want to tell them about my inept dating attempts. Or even my competent dating attempts."

"If you ever have any," Miller says, and Bellamy flips him off.

"It did work," Clarke points out. "Of course, asking me out on a date would have too, but--"

Bellamy ducks his head, flushing. "Hey, I was building to that. I had a whole plan."

"He likes you enough to pretend to care about sports," Miller tells Clarke, with just enough of an edge that she thinks this is probably one of those _if you hurt my friend, you're going to answer to me_ talks. "Hope you appreciate what that means."

"I hope it means I'll have some company for the 2020 Olympics," she says, giving Bellamy a smile of her own. "Assuming everything goes well."

"Yeah," he agrees. "That's the plan."

He doesn't bother with Wikipedia, when those games do come, just lets Clarke fill him in, researching the things she doesn't know when they interest him and only half paying attention to most of it. 

It's just as good as she hoped, really. Definitely the kind of tradition she could get used to.


End file.
